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Harley MS 3749
- Record Id:
- 040-002049581
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002049581
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x000102
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165168292.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 3749
- Title:
-
John Norden, Survey of the Honor of Windsor
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains a survey of the Honor of Windsor that was made by the cartographer John Norden (b. c. 1547, d. 1625) for King James I in 1607. The manuscript contains 17 maps that are the result of a survey conducted on foot by Norden. The maps in this volume show communication routes, individual buildings, field boundaries and parkland along with details of wildlife and human activity, such as stags in Windsor Park and people boating on the Thames. The scale at which the maps are presented varies throughout the volume, with feet, perches and miles being the units of measurement recorded by a scale bar. In 1608, John received £200 from James I, probably as a reward for his work on this survey.
John Norden is best known for his work Speculum Britanniae (Mirror of Britain), which in its attempt to include the road names and town plans, lacking on many county maps of the period, was a direct ancestor of the modern A-Z. As well as producing several county maps in the 1590s, Norden worked as a land surveyor producing surveys for landowners and was the author of a work which outlines principles of surveying, known as the Surveyor's Dialogue.
Norden made another copy of his survey of Windsor for the son of James I, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (b. 1594, d. 1612) that is now at the Royal Collection Trust.
Contents:
f. 1r: A title page: 'A Description of the Honor of Windesor Namelie of the Castle, Foreste, Walkes, Parkes, Rayles, Lodges etc. Townes, Parishes, Hamletts, Howses of note, Woodes, Rivers, Rills, Brookes, Bridges, Hills, Highwaies, And all other thinges memorable, within or belonging unto the saide Honor And the Liberties of the same Liynge within And extending into the Counties of Barke, Surrey, and Buckingham, Taken and performed by the perambulation, view and deliniation of John Norden in Anno 1607 - Suavis post laborem finis'.
f. 1v: Full-page heraldic achievement of King James I in colours with his French motto: 'Dieu et mon droit'.
f. 2r: Dedication to King James I, beginning: 'To the most mightie and magnificent Prince, James by divine grace kinge of Great Britane, France, and ireland'.
f. 2v: 'A Catalogue of the Tables or Mappes as they are placed in this booke'.
f. 3r: Table with 'an ample and trew description of your Majesties Castle of Windesor, the chappell, and of all other materiall thinges thereof as by a topographicall deliniation can be expressed'.
ff. 3v-3*r: A map with a plan or bird's eye view of Windsor Castle taken from the North.
f. 4r: Table of the walkes in Windsor Forest, with the names of their keepers and numbers of deer.
ff. 4r, 4*v: Alphabetical index of places on the map of Windsor Forest: 'An Alphabeticall table of the perticulars which by information of severall kepers are observed in this foreste mapp'.
ff. 4v-4*r: A map of Windsor Forest divided into seventeen walks.
f. 5r: Table concerning 'The Litle Parke'.
ff. 5v-5*r: Map of the Little Park.
f. 6r: Table concerning 'The Greate Parke'.
ff. 6v-6*r: Map of the Great Park.
f. 7r: Table concerning 'Moate Parke'.
ff. 7v-7*r: Map of Moat Park.
f. 8r: Table concerning 'Sunninge Hill Parke'.
ff. 8v-8*r: Map of Sunninghill Park.
f. 9r: Table concerning 'Follie John Parke'.
ff. 9v-9*r: Map of Foliejon Park.
f. 10r: Table concerning 'Easthamsted Park'.
ff. 10v-10*r: Map of Easthampstead Park.
f. 11r: Table concerning 'Swinley Railes'.
ff. 11v-11*r: Map of Swinley Railes.
f. 12r: Table concerning 'Bigshot Railes' and 'Cramborne Railes'.
f. 12v: Map of Bigshot Railes.
f. 12*r: Map of Crambourne Railes.
f. 13r: Table concerning 'Guldeforde Park'.
ff. 13v-13*r: Map of Guildford Park.
f. 14r: Table concerning 'Henly Parke'.
ff. 14v-14*r: Map of Henley Park.
f. 15r: Table of 'Wokinge Parke'.
ff. 15v-15*r: Map of Woking Park.
f. 16r: Table concerning 'Biflete Parke'.
ff. 16v-16*r: Map of Byfleet Park.
f. 17r: Table concerning 'Bagshott Parke'.
ff. 17v-17*r: Map of Bagshot Park.
f. 18r: Table of 'Langley Parke'.
ff. 18v-18*r: Map of Langley Park.
f. 19r: Table concerning 'Ditton Parke'.
ff. 19v-19*r: Map of Ditton Park.
f. 20r: Sums of deer in the parks of the Honour of Windsor, beginning: 'Summe to tall of all the Deer by Information within the Parkes belonging to the Honor of Windesore is MMMCCClxx'.
f. 20r: Note on the size of the parks, beginning: 'The parkes doe all contayne about ix m lix akers by the pole of 16 1/2 feete'.
Decoration:
17 maps of the Honour of Windsor in watercolour with occasional use of gold on scale indicators and compass roses.
1 full-page drawing of the heraldic achievement of King James I in colours and gold (f. 1v).
The title-page features a frame for the title inscription that is decorated with architectural motifs in blue, purple and gold (f. 1r). The dedication page features a frame of gold ink (f. 2r).
Text on f. 1r. and f. 2 features display script in blue, red, or gold, and combinations of blue or red with gold. Headings for the accompanying tables in blue and red.
Initials and park names in gold. Place names written in red ink throughout.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002049581", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3749: John Norden, Survey of the Honor of Windsor" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002049581 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 3749 : John Norden, Survey of the Honor of Windsor - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[3750]/040-002049581
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3749 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
French
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1607
- End Date:
- 1607
- Date Range:
- 1607
- Era:
- CE
- Scale:
- Scales differ
- Scale Designator:
- Horizontal
- Coordinates (Decimal):
- -0.8992,51.2364,-0.5001,51.579
- Coordinates (Degree):
- W 0°53’57”-W 0°30’0”/N 51°34’44”-N 51°14’11”
- Orientation:
- North
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 420 x 280 mm.
Foliation: ff. i + 20 + 3*-19* (+ 4 unfoliated modern unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); f. i is a parchment leaf at the beginning; 1 unfoliated blank parchment leaf after f. i; ff. 3*-19* are 17 parchment leaves of which each follows a folio with their corresponding unasterisked number (e.g. f. 3* follows f. 3); the versos of the unasterisked folios and the rectos of their preceding corresponding asterisked folios together contain large maps; ff. 3v-3*recto, 6v-6*recto, 15v-15*recto, 18v-18*recto have parchment foldouts on their outer edges for these maps, with an additional parchment foldout on the upper edge of f. 15*recto; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [iv]recto (bibliographical notes) and 1 on f. [21]recto (exhibition notes).
Collation: Each bifolium has been mounted separately onto a paper guard.
Script: 17th-century script.
Binding: Post-1600: brown leather binding with two blind-stamped and gold-tooled panels with gold-stamped motifs at the corners of the inner panel and the royal coat of arms of King James I gold-stamped at the centres of the outside upper and lower covers; Harleian bindings of gold-stamped and -tooled red Morocco leather with the Harleian arms gold-stamped at the centres pasted on the insides of the upper and lower covers; marbled endleaves; gilt fore edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
John Norden (b. c. 1547, d. 1625), cartographer: his survey of the Honor of Windsor prepared for King James I in 1607, according to the title inscription on f. 1r: 'A Description of the Honor of Windesor [...] Taken and performed by the perambulation, view, and deliniation of John Norden in Anno 1607' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 258).
James I (b. 1566, d. 1625), King of England in 1603, owned the manuscript: the manuscript is dedicated to him by John Norden on f. 2r: 'To the most mightie and magnificent Prince James by divine grace Kinge of Great Britane, France, and Ireland'; the manuscript also features his armorial binding (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 203).
Peter Le Neve (b. 1661, d. 1729), Rouge Croix Pursuivant 1690, owned in 1704: described in his letter to Robert Harley from the College of Arms, 3 October, 1710 [now Harley MS 6834, ff. 26r-27r]: 'I left this morning the manuscript Survey of the Honor of Windsor with Mr Wanley of which I desire your acceptance (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 219).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), p. 58 (no. 3749).
William Brenchley Rye, England as Seen by Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth and James the First (London: John Russell Smith, 1865), p. 198 n. 33.
Catalogue of the Manuscript Maps, Charts, and Plans, and of the Topographical Drawings in the British Museum, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1844), I, pp. 160-163.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 203, 219, 258.
Helen Wallis, The Royal Map Collections of England (Coimbra: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 1981), p. 465.
Simon Thurley, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England: Architecture and Court Life 1460-1547 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), pl. 96, 104.
Treasures of the British Library, ed. by Nicolas Barker and others (London: British Library, 2005), p. 176.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)